Cowardice Quotes - Page 14

• For those of you who may be unaware, [Michael] Boskin is the economist/weasel/fraud who helped to officially distort the CPI, making it more or less worthless as a measure of inflation. The Boskin Commission... was an act of cowardice. Rather than man up and say fix this, its broken, we can't afford it.

  Barry Ritholtz

  Men, Broken, May

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• Nonconformity is an empty goal, and rebellion against prevailing opinion merely because it is prevailing should no more be praised than acquiescence to it. Indeed, it is often a mask for cowardice, and few are more pathetic than those who flaunt outer differences to expiate their inner surrender.

  William H. Whyte

  Differences, Goal, Acquiescence

  William H. Whyte (2013). “The Organization Man”, p.10, University of Pennsylvania Press

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• A curse on him who begins in gentleness. He shall finish in insipidity and cowardice, and shall never step foot in the great liberating current of Christianity.

  Andre Trocme

  Feet, Steps, Christianity

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• The greatest giver of alms is cowardice.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Alms, Giver

  Friedrich Nietzsche (1977). “The Portable Nietzsche”, p.51, Penguin

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• Playing the part of a charitable soul was only for those who were afraid of taking a stand in life. It is always far easier to have faith in your own goodness than to confront others and fight for your rights. It is always easier to hear an insult and not retaliate than have the courage to fight back against someone stronger than yourself; we can always say we're not hurt by the stones others throw at us, and it's only at night - when we're alone and our wife or our husband or our school friend is asleep - that we can silently grieve over our own cowardice.

  Paulo Coelho

  Courage, Hurt, Husband

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• You are less majestically neutral than cloaking your cowardice in principle.

  George Hearst

  Principles

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• Apparent confusion is a product of good order; apparent cowardice, of courage; apparent weakness, of strength.

  Sun Tzu

  Order, Confusion, Weakness

  Sun Tzu, Shang Yang (1997). “The Art of War”, p.30, Wordsworth Editions

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• Falsehood is never better than truth, theft better than honesty, treachery better than loyalty, cowardice better than courage.

  Harry Emerson Fosdick

  Loyalty, Honesty, Exactness

  Harry Emerson Fosdick (1952). “A faith for tough times”

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• That was the source of my vanity and my cowardice: always I believed everyone was watching me.

  Andre Dubus

  Vanity, Source

  Andre Dubus (2010). “Broken Vessels: Essays”, p.51, Open Road Media

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• Cynicism is a form of cowardice, a failure of courage to hope.

  Merle Shain

  Cynicism, Form

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• Heckling is an act of cowardice. If you want to speak, get up in front of the microphone and speak, don't sit in the dark hiding. It's easy to hide and shout and waste people's time.

  Billy Connolly

  Dark, People, Want

  "My ambition is to be regarded as a nuisance". Interview with Lisa O'Kelly, www.theguardian.com. March 24, 2012.

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• The desire to gain wealth and the fear to lose it are our chief breeders of cowardice and propagators of corruption.

  William James

  Desire, Gains, Wealth

  William James (2013). “The Varieties of Religious Experience”, p.368, Courier Corporation

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• With how many things are we on the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries.

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

  Inquiry, Becoming, Frankenstein Novel

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1974). “Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Text”, p.46, University of Chicago Press

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• True courage is mixed with circumspection, the kind of healthy skepticism that asks, 'Is this the best way to do this?' True cowardice is marked by chronic skepticism, which always says, 'It can't be done.'

  William Bennett

  Healthy, Way, Done

  William J. Bennett (1993). “The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories”, Simon and Schuster

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• Giving your team cover for their cowardice is foolish. Give them a platform for bravery instead.

  Seth

  Team, Giving, Bravery

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• A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  Fear, Taken, Cutting

  J.R.R. Tolkien (2012). “Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth”, p.42, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Statesmen exhibit five key commitments: 1) A commitment to principles above politics; 2) An ability to compromise without abandoning principle; 3) A commitment to truth over spin; 4) A commitment to courage over cowardice; and 5) A commitment, or willingness, to give up power.

  Tom Coburn

  Giving Up, Commitment, Keys

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• Failure and well-disguised cowardice are more human and more beloved.

  Ernest Hemingway

  Appreciation, Survival, Beloved

  Ernest Hemingway (2015). “Ernest Hemingway: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations”, p.29, Melville House

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• Running away for fear of death, leaving one's dear ones, temples or music to take care of themselves, is irreligion; it is cowardice.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Running, Dear Ones, Leaving

  Mahatma Gandhi (1967). “Collected Works”

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• The truth is that cowardice itself is violence of a subtle type and therefore dangerous and far more difficult to eradicate than the habit of physical violence.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Coward, Violence, Truth Is

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• Far better than emasculation would be the bravery of those who use physical force. Far better than cowardice would be meeting one's death fighting.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Fighting, Bravery, Coward

  Mahatma Gandhi, U. R. Rao (1963). “The Way to Communal Harmony”, Ahmedabad, [India] : Navajivan Publishing House

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• Nonviolence and cowardice go ill together.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Coward, Together, Ill

  Mahatma Gandhi (2005). “All Men Are Brothers”, p.97, A&C Black

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• It was the cowards who died many times before their death.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Coward, Died

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• No police or military in the world can protect people who are cowards.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Military, People, Police

  Mohandas Karmchand Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, V. Geetha (2004). “Soul Force: Gandhi's Writings on Peace”, p.401, Tara Publishing

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• Base and crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark.

  Francis Bacon

  Dark, Arrows, Coward

  Francis Bacon (1765). “The works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, and Lord High Chancellor of England, in five volumes”, p.515

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